After my last service at Honda, I was told the Continental CrossContact LX Sport tires that came with the vehicle has 3/32nds tread left in the front two tires and 4/32nds of tread left on the rear tires. This is at 41,650 miles (currently I'm at 41950 miles). Having to replace tires this early on a daily driver that sees mostly highway mileage and highway speeds has disappointed me. However I need input on two specific tires I am looking at from a list of 7 tires.

Tire #1: Continental CrossContact LX25 (245/50R20)
Tire #2: Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus (245/50R20)

Tire #1 has an OTD around $900 from Discount tire. Tire #2 has an OTD around $1000 from Costco. I used tire rack to gather some basic data such as tread depth and tire warranty which goes as followed:

• Tire #1 has 12/32nds tread depth new, with a 70k mile / 7yr warranty
• Tire #2 has 10/32nds tread depth new, with a 70k mile / 6 yr warranty

I did got price quotes from Firestone and Tires Plus, but they are asking outrageous prices for tires that aren't on my list and for Tire #2 Firestone was asking near $1200.

 

To defend Continental, the tires on almost every new vehicle I’ve purchased have been selected for economics (to the auto maker), low rolling resistance and low noise. If you look at the LX Sport on the TireRack site you’ll find it down near the bottom of the list. And no warranty offered on OEM tires says a lot.

Im running Bridgestone on my wife’s and both daughters’ SUVs. And will replace identically when (before actually) necessary. I’m a Bridgestone truck tire fan.

i replaced my LX Sports with LX25s. I’ve driven ~5k miles. Excellent handling. More muscular appearance, which suits my MDX tastes perfectly. Zero impact to MPG (possibly improved a touch but I couldn’t prove it, so I’ll call neutral), no noticeable difference in road noise. I replaced my Sports at 33k but they were just beginning to show wear. Evenly.

i vote for the Conti LX25.

 

I saw that both Tire rack and Discount Tire has rated the LX Sports as "Better" whereas the LX25s at "Best".

 

Which continental tire comes on 2020 MDX Tech models?

 

I am not sure what the 2020s came with, but I definitely know that the 2017s has the Continental CrossContact LX Sport.

 

My ‘20 AWD Tech came with the Sport.

 

our daughter has run a set of LX25's on her ford edge. They seem to be a good all around tire and they are close to needing replacement and will go with another set of the LX25's. Minimal tire noise, good wet, dry, snow performance. Personally I love the Continental DWS-06, but it is not available in the OEM size for the MDX. either need a wider rim or pick and choose a close but not exact tire diameter.

We use discount tire. Since we seldom get the rated tire mileage out of tires, Discount is our place to go. Prices are good and they give a mileage credit based on selling price towards whatever replacement tire you pick. Saves us 30-50% on the next set of tires.

 

Do some more research. I dont think either will give you much better milage out of them. Yokahamas have better rating at less money. But then again I am a fan of Yokahama tires. Even though I only have 19000 miles on my car and expect 2 more years before I need to replace mine I will continue researching.

 

I'm still in my research phase. Here is the list of 7 tires I am looking at:

1. Continental CrossContact LX25
2. Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus
3. Pirelli Scorpion Verde A/S Plus II
4. Michelin CrossClimate 2
5. Michelin Primacy Tour A/S
6. Pirelli Scorpion Verde A/S
7. Pirelli Scorpion Zero A/S

I did look at Toyo, Firestone, and Dunlop. Dunlop and Goodyear will never ever gain my business again because of my negative experiences that I had with the brand. Toyo had some low ratings overall as a brand, and Firestone is just a subdivision of Bridgestone (which makes zero sense for me to go with Firestone). I had Dunlop on my previous vehicle but I didn't like them at all (had to replace all 4 tires with the same crappy ones because my dad bought the stupid warranty from the stealership which required me to literally have the same brand and model of tires that came with the vehicle from factory). I will check out Yokohama if they have the size in 245/50R20 with a reasonable tread depth and warranty.

 

The Yokahama YK740s have a 60K mile treadware warranty and on Discount tire web site 4.6 customer satisfaction rating.. at $740 OTD they seem to represent decent value. Of course with new tires you will likely need to rebuild the TPMS for each wheel. They may not be ideal foe your needs, but for me and previous Yokahama expreience they are probably my first choice.

 

What’s your goal? Extended mileage, everything else secondary?

 

I'm a Michelin man so majority of their all season line up are quality tires with good performance. From my research General Gmax A/S and DWS 06 would be the two I would consider as well.

Go wider to 255/45 tires for more grip and stability. Ride stiffness IMO increases 10-15% from stock but its well worth it.

 

datechboss . . . . .you've got just about every brand covered. Was even looking to see if you added Coopers! You are going to get varied opinions here as some have favorites whether the tires are good or not. As Boardmember said, sort of depends on what you are after. The bargain, the tread life, handling, noise, or the ride? Really that sweet spot is what you are after. If there is such a thing with tires!

 

I’ve jumped into the Michelin bucket a few times over the years too. I’ll agree those tires will last many miles. Even after the rubber petrifies, they’ll still have tread. Hard as rocks, but still can’t see the top of Lincoln’s head.

 

To the OP. what are the most important atributes of your "perfect tire"? What tire you may love I may hate or vise versa.

There are tradeoffs between tread life, wet/dry/snow performance, tread noise, responsiveness, cost etc. My priorities are very good dry and wet performance, low tire noise, I don't really care about tread life or cost. But then the tires on my SL500 would NEVER be my choice for the MDX or my E420 either. For what I like the Conti DWS-06 is top of the list, the LX25 is a good second choice. I've tried the Michelin Primacy on another car and really did not like them. very noisy, not great dry or wet performance but thankfully they wore out quick.

 

I tend to drive a lot of miles, mostly highway, so I am literally looking for the following:

1. Maximum thread life/tire life (mostly by mileage)
2. Minimal road noise (from tires)
3. Handling (terrain I drive on is a mix of wet and dry, Central and South Florida weather)
4. MPG (if there's any difference in the tire, but not a super high priority though)

Discount Tire literally talked me into looking at Yokohama tires, and he told me it ranked #3 best tire for our MDX. I did checked the new Acuras and sure enough, the new RDXs also comes with these crappy Continental CrossContact LX Sport.

FYI: Acura lied to me today about my tires! They said the tires are not safe and are dangerous to drive (whoever did the multipoint inspection checked the box for 2/32nds and below for all 4 tires!) . I had the discount tire guy check the tires and well, we can say my tires still had a decent amount of tread left. This is one of many reasons why I only take my MDX to Acura for warranty service.

 

Unfortunately this happens all the time. All it takes is some unprepared owner to panic when the service advisor hits them with that dire news and they are quickly out of approx > $1000+. Many people fail to realize where the profits centers are for dealerships. They might sell lots of cars. But the money is sitting in the parts and service department. And EVERYONE at the dealership is in sales. Just have to do your homework and not be afraid to say no. If concerned, do exactly what you did and get a second opinion.

 

Now, I am broadening my tire search into Yokohama. Please suggest any tires from Yokohama that you all run on the 3rd gen MDX.

I know stealerships do their best to upsell, even if they don't know the products properly (this was clearly shown at a Nissan dealer in South Florida when they recommended a PSF Flush, and I asked them where the PSF reservoir was located and they couldn't find it). However, I am the type of customer that literally asks the SA to take me into the bay to show me what they are saying (trying to sell me) is true or not, but this SA was either incompetent to show or just plain out lazy.

 

We can go to AutoZone and get a tire tread gauge. A couple of bucks, at most.

 

Well I got two updates (one is for what I am looking at from the tires and the other is a recent stealership experience):

1. Yesterday, we took my parents car in for service to Nissan and low-and-behold, they were taken advantage of by a new scummy SA (not the SA that I went through last time). OTD came out to ~$100 for a vehicle with an oil engine capacity at 4.9 qrts when bone dry; service receipt shows 6 qrts. On top of that there was an addition of $26, probably for labor, since there was no info for why they charged that much extra.
2. With a full load in the trunk, driving back to said stealership from Costco, I had the unfortunate event of slamming the brakes but the car didn't come to a full stop at the designated white light at the signal light intersection (we just got a red light). So stopping distance via tires is now higher on priority list too.

 

The Yokahama YK740GTX has a 740 AA rating. Bought 6 Yokahamas for my truck when the OE tires failed. The difference is quiet and ride comfort was immediately noticable. Now I know every tire style can make a difference so take it with a grain of salt. Put Yokahamas on my Suziki GV and was always pleased with them. Few years ago had co come over the mountains in a snow storm. Even though I had chains I never considered a need to chain up. The tires did a great job to taking care of me.

 

Ok date101 - if you’re experiencing problems braking, its time to make a decision before you hurt yourself or someone else. Lots of opinions here. Anything you pick looks like it will be better than what you have. And going from your current worn-out rubber to any new tire will be incredible - at least for the first couple of years.

 

Hi. I just hit 50k with my OEM continentals on my 17 MDX.
I have also been doing research for my needs:
1) Quiet comfortable ride
2) long life
3) good warranty

My top two choices for now are Michelin Primacy and Goodyear Assurance Max Life.
Both are below $1000 with discounts.

Is there a reason why OP (or anyone else) is staying away from Goodyear?

 

...oh and forgot to mention, I will also go for 255/50/20 which is a bit wider than OEM size..

 

WalMart Tire Guage

 

not getting political, but GoodYear has come out not supporting the Government. Check it out.

 

I ran a set of michelin primacy's on my Mercedes E420. I couldn't wait for them to wear out so I could get something better. And it didn't take long for them to wear out. They were noisy, rough and had very poor wet weather traction. I got about 25K miles out of them. I went to the Continental DWS-06 and for what I wanted is a far better tire. Much quieter, better ride, better dry and wet traction, and longer tread life, along with lower cost. Our DIL has the DWS-06 on her Mazda and she is also happy and impressed with them.

Downside of the DWS-06 is that Continental does not make the OEM 20" size that the MDX uses. So for the DWS-06 one would need to pick a close size.

 

Well two things:
1) What @Donn0128 said, Goodyear doesn't want to support our hard working police officers (I am pro-law enforcement and I actually talked to a few of them personally and they are all good hard working people putting their lives on the line)
2) I had their sub-brand, Dunlop, on my previous vehicle for 109k miles... I really disliked them.

Its more personal experience, but now its more personal and common sense.
I was thinking about saying that, but I didn't knew if it was alright to mention it since it might be considered political or okay to talk about it.

Will the OEM Wheel fit on it?

 

I have been driving more careful than I used to because of low thread. After tires, my next bucket item is better brakes. And I think I got a good idea from what everyone here has recommended. In-addition I will need to buy a tire thread depth gauge, since I have an analog tire pressure gauge in my glove box.

 

Just to throw another viewpoint into the discussion....

I'm typically a Michelin tire guy for all-season/non-winter tires, and a Nokian guy for dedicated winter tires. I'm one who does the changeover twice a year.

I had a '17 MDX Tech with the Conti's and my current '19 MDX Advance has the Michelin Latitude Tour HP's. I've found that the Continental's are actually a better tire for every day driving as compared to the Michelins. Now it's not apples to apples, since the Michelins are a wider tire and the Advance has active dampers, but I've found the Michelins to have a more jumpy/choppy ride than the Conti's had. Overall, when running the winter tires on both vehicles, the driving experience is similar - so the summer tires are likely the difference I'm noticing. Strange as it may sound, if I were to put another set of summer tires on the '19 Advance, I'd look at something other than the Michelins - Conti would be one avenue, but not quite sure the direction I'd go....

 

According to the tire size calculator, for the OEM 20*8 rims I can use 255/50/20 size tires as is within the 7-9 range.

 

I just bought that this morning and put it in my glove box.

 

Just checked the Honda dealer service specials, and Lo-and-behold, I found this. I am going to call them in the morning to see if they can get the tires I am looking for. Is this a great deal?

 

Is it a good deal? Not necessarily. Tires at a dealership are by no means the cheapest, even if you get extras tossed in. I’d also be surprised if they bend to let an Acura owner take advantage of a Honda deal. Yeah, I know, all in the family. Just saying. Good luck. Let us know how it goes!

 

I will let you guys know! I think they might bend over since I have been trusting them with our Hondas and Acura since 2014, but I have no clue. Plus, I have to take my MDX there for alignment either way, so I gotta see what they tell me. I know my SA would honor any coupon so if he does honor this and with the tires I am looking at, it'll be a good package, in terms of being the cheapest compared to Costco and Discount Tire.

 

This looks good enough and your convenience and time are worth something dong forget.

but this is 25% off of the tire list price. I’m thinking a little negotiation at a local (franchise or not) would be close or better.

 

UPDATE: I went with Discount Tire and ordered the Yokohama YK740 GTX for under $900 OTD. Honda offered tires that clearly was not on my list at all and my SA called me 2 hours after I stopped by the dealership (I am not sure where he went for a few hours between 10am to 4pm) and told me that their vendor doesn't even offer any of the tires I was looking for. But he said to literally go to a tire shop, however, he also that the dealership will do the alignment for me. And for the tire coupon of the buy 3 get 1 free that I posted here, one of the other SA's that I go to if my regular SA isn't working on the day, she told me that it will be applied for my MDX.

 

this is the tire on my short list when my X is due. I have always had good luck with Yokahama tires on my dually and my Suzuki Grand Vitara. They have always returned decent tread life and really good in wet and snow.

 

Well DT has a $110 discount for Yokohama tires going on till end of the month. The price was actually made me to pull the trigger on this. I am getting them installed on Wednesday. And talk about how crappy the OEM tires are... its at the end of its life (42k miles) and two of the tires are starting to crack/tare. At least the Yokohama tire was rated #1 for Japanese brands but #2 overall for the 245/50R20 size A/S tires. I honestly didn't had this on my list until many people mentioned about this exact tires to me.

 

My inputs a bit late the Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus that you looked at, I had it on my rx450, it was okay. I also had Scorpion verde 1 on that RX. it was noisy. Currently on MDX, I got the Scorpion verde 2 in march.. so far pretty good. Not like the verde 1. In case anyone one was looking at these.